Posted on 12/12/2021 10:43:05 AM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
"West Side Story" had little to sing about this weekend.
20th Century Studios' remake of the 1961 classic musical brought in an estimated $10.5 million for its opening in North America this weekend. This total was below expectations, which projected the film to make closer to $15 million in its debut weekend.
The total is a bit surprising considering that the film had a lot working in its favor. For starters, it is directed by Steven Spielberg, one of the most recognizable and blockbuster directors in history. His name alone appeared to not be enough to get people to buy a ticket.
Great reviews also weren't enough. The film, which has a stellar 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes, garnered critical acclaim as well as early Oscar buzz. Yet, despite getting an "A" CinemaScore from those who saw it, the box office returns are lackluster at best.
The film could have some legs in theaters over the next few weeks as the holidays kick in and more families have time to hit the theater, but so far the movie has failed to find an audience...
"West Side Story" could have faltered this weekend due to myriad factors. There may have been concerns over coronavirus variants, older audiences have been somewhat reluctant to return to theaters compared to younger ticket buyers, and musicals have struggled at the box office of late.
Recent film adaptations of Broadway musicals, such as "In The Heights," "Dear Evan Hansen" and "Cats," all disappointed at the box office, with each bringing in less than $30 million in domestic ticket sales, according to Comscore (SCOR). And while musicals have also experienced some big hits, including "La La Land," "The Greatest Showman" and "Mamma Mia!," it appears "West Side Story" has so far fallen in the former category.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I heard it has a lot of “woke” crap in it which may explain why people are staying away. Plus who wants to sit in a theater for 2 hours wearing a mask?
Everyone knows the ending.
Everyone knows the ending. Like going to see a remake of Old Yellar
The story is kind of yuk-o. Not sure even Spielberg can save it.
I haven’t sat in a theater for 28 years
Don’t think I’ll be starting back up now
Most people have read or are aware of Romeo and Juliet, and since the West Side in the play/film was destroyed to make way for Lincoln Center 60 years ago AND Italians vs. PRs isn’t really what’s happening right now in the Big Town, a slow opening was predictable.
Spielberg is reminding me of an old athelete trying to hang on way past their prime.
The article goes on to list everything but the possibility that, uh, maybe it's not a very good movie? These days if the critics love it, it means that it's marked off everything on the social justice checklist - get woke, go broke.
Sad when a billionaire producer and director, along with his well-heeled co-producer friends take it in the shorts for tens of millions of dollars trying to jam their perspective down our throats.
My wife was telling me about this earlier.
My unanswered question was, “Why remake this? Restore the original? Sure. But a complete new production doesn’t make much sense.”
Movie theatres are going the way of Blockbuster Video stores.
Kaput !
I was privileged to spend several hours with Carol Lawrence, “Maria” in the original Broadway production of West Side Story. She was acting as the celebrity hostess for a World Vision special on the famine relief work in East Africa.
I flew the helicopter taking her from the last fixed-wing airport up to the bush mission station. She sat up front and I had only two intercom headsets, so we had a one to one conversation for 45 minutes to an hour, each way.
Very nice lady.
This was all back in 1980 or 81.
Spielberg is way past his prime. Retire with some dignity left.
Could have been "1941"
I saw the original last night on TMC or something.
Nothing beats the original, never will.
Once, before we had kids, one of my wife’s friends came to visit. The friend had two kids, 6 and three. I walked in the house after work and saw the kids sitting down in front of the TV. They were watching Old Yeller. There was about ten minutes left in the movie.
I asked my wife if she had ever seen it before. She and her friend said, “No, why?”
I just chuckled and went to get changed.
About five minutes later I heard the wailing from down in the family room. I secretly laughed my ass off until the slowed down a little.
It was one of the most amusing things from our early marriage.
LOL.
In my mind, the only West Side Story film that matters
is the one done with Natalie Wood, her costars and that spectacular music score. Some things do not need to be redone.
Beauty & The Beast often works as a redo, because certain changes to the cast or the music don’t seem to distort the core story. Sometimes, as with actress Emma Watson, the “Beauty” doesn’t even need to be all that beautiful.
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